Robin,
Great reads, thanks. One overarching theme here is communication, not just through email and office hours, but about expectations and perceptions. And it all rolls right back to safety as I’ll note at the end.
Back in the early 90’s, I was one of the first to use web resources in teaching (I single-handedly put up the first web site that had complete information about any chemistry department anywhere because I saw the pedagogical and graduate recruiting value; I was among the first to implement on-line quizzing and document student improvement with it). The first time I incorporated the web into my classroom, I asked my 300+ students how many had heard of a web browser and about 5 or 10 raised their hand (the following year it was half, and the year after that it was all but 5 or 10).
While my course web site had all kinds of links and resources, the most important feature in my mind was the anonymous feedback form. Students were free to review my teaching and give me comments with the promise of anonymity (but warned that abuse would break that pledge). My thinking was that it does no good to wait until the traditional post-course evaluations to find out that a student had felt slighted by something I had said or that there was a unfounded perception of unfairness. One or multiple students could have been saved from a poor experience or outcome had I been able to act sooner.
The approach paid off almost immediately. For example, a common gripe is that the course moves too fast. Of course it does - it’s a team taught course to over 1,000 students in multiple sections with multiple teachers with a common exam and we have to stay on a crazy tight schedule to get all the ACS accreditation requirements in. So when that one rolled into my inbox, I took a couple minutes at the beginning of class and I laid this all out - and told the students *I agree* with that criticism and that while I couldn’t do anything directly about it, I was there to do my best to help them succeed, including extra practice problems on the web etc. As a result, I was able to turn the perception that I was a hard-ass who didn’t care about students into one in in which yes, I was demanding, but had a genuine interest in helping students succeed.
Another time, I made glib comment about the computer labs where students had to turn in their required electronic homework on 3.5” floppy disks. There was always all kinds of problems right before the deadline and that caused a lot of anxiety and “the computer ate my homework” complaints. After that class, I got anonymous feedback from one of my students who worked in the computer labs and they felt I had maligned the lab workers with my comment. At the next class, I read that feedback out loud, explained my comments were not aimed at the staff, apologized for being glib, praised the work of the computer lab staff, and moved on. Because leadership is about listening to others, admitting if you're wrong, dealing with issues quickly and fairly, and respect. And the student followed up to thank me. With a few minutes of effort I undoubtedly made that student’s perception of me and the course better, and maybe even got a better evaluation at the end. But more than that, it showed the class that I cared enough to not just listen, but consider and act.
As noted in the articles Robin posted, better communication of expectations and perceptions could have avoided the whole NYU mess. And while a simple anonymous feedback form may not be the most current technology, an approach that took a few minutes to discuss course feedback once a week would certainly have improved things.
Which rolls right back to safety - in any complex organization, the safety stakeholders need to communicate their needs, their experiences, and their expectations. New information needs to be disseminated. Stakeholder meetings need to happen, and non-punitive constructive feedback encouraged. This isn’t a customer service model although it parallels it. It’s more about what being part of team, working towards common goals, and mutual respect.
What happened at NYU is nothing new, it just exposed that we all sometimes take things for granted and need to step back and assess ourselves to see what is working, what is not working, and what new challenges need to be met so we can continuously improve. Just like a safety culture.
Rob Toreki
I’ve had the pleasure of working with Mait during his tenure here. His lab at Princeton was fantastic. He had a reputation as a tough, but inspiring teacher.
If you’d like to read more perspectives, I recommend an article and an op-ed in the Daily Princetonian (The Prince), our student newspaper.
The first includes feedback from alumni and current Chemistry faculty. The second discusses how professional schools and employers view “weed out” courses.
Alumni respond to Professor Emeritus Maitland Jones Jr’s firing from NYU
How the professional world takes advantage of classes like Maitland Jones’s
Robin Izzo
Assistant Vice President
Environmental Health and Safety
Princeton University
